Complete Shiny Guide

[size=150]---The Complete and Utter Guide On how to Chain Shinies---[/size]

After a conversation with an online friend, I'm led to believe that most people from ONM think that the one rule in Shiny Chaining is "go to the spot furthest from your position." This is rubbish, so prepare to be educated.

Tools of the Trade
Here's what you'll need before you go headlong into the shrubbery:

Pokéradar - This is a no-brainer. If you want to Pokéradar chain, then you need the Pokéradar. Get one from Oak once you've completed the Sinnoh Dex.

BAZILLIONZ of Super Repels - Get to the Pokémart and buy about 200. Seriously. You'll need these to prevent your chain from being interrupted by a Bidoof or eight. These actually work out more economically priced than Max Repel.

Variety Of Pokéballs - Whatever and whenever you're chaining, make sure you're ballsy enough to pull a capture off (pun intended, sorry). If it's night, Dusk Balls are great. Quick Balls are general all-purpose on most things, as are Nest Balls if you're taking in a Lv100 to catch a shiny Doduo on Route 201. Master Balls are for when you're faced with Beldum. Seriously, you will CRY when it KO's itself with recoil whilst you've spent the last several hours wasting several thousand pounds worth of Dusk Balls on it. NEVER NEVER use Ultra Balls. They cost 200 quid more, and have half the catch rate of the other 'situational' Pokéballs. Go figure.

Overlevelled Pokémon with lots of PP - Exactly what it says on the tin. You don't want to run out of PP halfway through a chain. And it needs to be able to OHKO the opponent with every move (shouldn't be exactly hard). Something with over 50 PP will be fine, or 2 Pokemon with lots of collective PP.

A Utility Pokemon - Lets say you fling a few Dusk Balls at it, and the Pokémon doesn't seem to want to keep it's shiny ass inside one. If you've got a Utility Pokemon (preferably something of similar level, with a weak move that won't KO even with an unlucky-but-somewhat-inevitable critical hit, and something else to hypnotise/paralyse it), you can switch that in, slap it around a little and teach it what 'sudden new home' means.

Synchroniser - Getting a shiny is awesome. Getting one with the right nature for competitive battling is even better. Get something with Synchronise and the desired nature at the head of your party, and you've got that 50% chance of the shiny having that needed nature. IV's, unfortunately, can't be similarily influenced, so that's down to pure straight luck. Don't bother if you're not fussed about competitive play.

An Attractor - If you're chaining a Steel type, get something with Magnet Pull (Magnemite family and Nosepass family get it). If it's an electric type, Static is the key. But be careful you aren't going to be attracting any other Pokemon in the area. This isn't a necessity, only use one if you're after something steel or electric type.

Patience - This isn't available in Pokémarts. It will take a lot of it to successfully pull of a shiny chain. Seriously, you will be resetting A LOT


Preparing for your Shiny Hunt
OK, so you've got everything you need... but what to chain? Swarm chains are harder to break than normal ones, so head to Dawn's/Lucas' house in Sunyshore and talk to the little girl to find out what's Swarming and where. It changes every day at midnight. Of course, it's possible to go looking for something else, but the Pokérader only works in normal long grass (not the extra-long grass or the grass in mud that plagues the Great Marsh), so you can't chain anything in a cave.
Before you venture into the tall grass, these two things will make your life a little easier:
1) Register the Pokéradar. Hitting Y is so much quicker than navigating menus =P
2) Put Super Repel at the top of the Items list. Scrolling down a list that size is a pain in the *****.
3) If it's on a route covered in a blizzard or a sandstorm, go elsewhere. Seeing those shaking patches is near impossible.

Right, you're prepped! Time to get hunting!


CHAINING!
This is the part you've been waiting for, getting a chain running successfully. First off, get a Super Repel down. When you first use the Radar, enter any of the patches that's not at an edge (edge of the grass, next to a fence, etc). Defeat the Pokemon, and when you leave the battle, more patches will shake. You've started a chain! When choosing the next patch, you need to use the 4-block rule. Here's what it is:

Everytime you defeat a Pokemon, the game picks 4 tiles on the map. One in Block 1, one in Block 2, one in Block 3, and one in Block 4. These are not limited to being in the grass, and often will be generated on normal land tiles, or fences, or anywhere else. Let me explain where these blocks are placed with a pretty diagram:



Point 0 is where you are stood. Now, as I said before, one tile will be picked in each area. This is why you must NEVER NEVER EVER enter a patch of grass on the edge or in a corner - there's a decent chance that all of the tiles will be picked outside of the grass. When this happens, the chain breaks. So stay away from the edges.

Now, a shaking patch in 1-3 is a no-go, and you have a high risk of encountering a different Pokemon, thus breaking the chain. Only ever enter a patch that shakes in zone 4, and only if it's not at the edge. This is why you picked a nice big patch of grass. You did pick a big patch of grass, right? Now, you're asking me "wait, oh godly master of chaining, a block-4 patch didn't appear!" or "oh brave and truthful lord, that fourth patch appeared on the edge! Whatever shall I do?" Well, it's simple, you reset the Radar. This simply involves running around, AVOIDING the patches of grass that were shaking, until the radar is recharged (if you were paying attention earlier, you'll know it takes 50 steps to recharge it), and then using it again. More patches will shake, and the chain won't be broken. Keep resetting until you get that block-4 patch in a safe location. Also, check where the edges of the screen are when you reset the radar. Do not leave this area, or you'll be classed as 'Out Of Bounds' and the chain will break.
Note that you WILL be resetting the Radar A LOT. Never risk a Block-3 or below patch, and never enter the edge.
Also, one other thing. You're running to your destination when - argh! - the Super Repel wears off. Do you risk the extra few steps unprotected, or get another repel down? if you picked the former, you're a douche and deserve the inevitable Bidoof encounter to laugh at your crying idiocy. Get a fresh Repel down, and ALWAYS reset the Radar after doing so. I don't care how many times you've had to reset to get that patch in the right place, just reset. You'll risk breaking the chain again if you don't. Not sure why, but putting down a fresh Repel seems to randomise the Pokémon in the patches that shook that time, even in Block 4.
I should point out that chains occasionally (but rarely) break for no reason whatsoever. You entered the 4th patch away, it was nowhere near the edge. But when you come out of the battle the normal music is playing again. It's just the game confirming it's hatred for mankind, and how it hopes for it's ultimate destruction based on DS-flinging rage. If this happens, scream loudly, refuse to play Pokemon EVER EVER AGAIN, and snap the top screen off your DS. Once you've got yourself a new one and are heavily dosed on Prozac, try again. The patient bird gets the shiny worm. Apparently.

Now, everytime you reset or finish a battle, there's a chance that one of the patches that shakes will be hiding a shiny. You'll know it's a shiny by the way it shimmers and shines when it shakes, and it's shaking time is somewhat longer than the ones with the little white flecks. (nb: The white-tipped patches that appear commonly are not shiny, just a higher chance of a rarer Pokémon appearing. You'll know a Shiny one when you see it) Head into this, and you're guaranteed a shiny encounter.
So, why bother chaining if you can just keep resetting until you get a shiny? Well, the more you chain, the higher the chance of seeing a shiny spot get, and the chance maxes out at about 40 (a chance of 200 to 1, not exactly sparkling, but compared to 8192 to 1, it's pretty awesome). So, once you hit that illustrious forty mark (the Trainer Counter keeps a track of your current chain total), stop chaining and just reset until you see that shining glory. After you've capture it (if you killed it, you really need to send your brain back to wherever you got it from and demand a replacement), the chain will continue, and apparently it's possible to catch more shinies, if you're greedy like that =D

Well, I think that's about all I've got. I hope this guide is useful to you lot, or at least a decent read.

Don't claim this work as your own or post it on other sites. If you see this being flaunted elsewhere, PM me, and the perpetrator will be fed to several rabid Rattata.